Posted by The Black Knight on July 04, 2000 at 15:17:00:
Chapter 4
One hour before his first class started Luke sat in an office just a little larger than his own. Behind the desk sat a beautiful woman with shoulder length brown hair and a gentle face. She was in
her mid to late thirties and her name was Danielle Francis. In the chair beside Luke was a young woman. Her blonde hair came down to her shoulders and her light blue eyes sparkled as she talked. She was
barely in her mid-twenties and just barely qualified to teach at a University. Her name was Candice Dalton.
"I assume that you have a good reason for calling this meeting, or were you just getting bored with your classes?" Luke said.
"Mister Drake, if common courtesy doesn't restrain you, then perhaps I should remind you that I decide whether or not you get your paycheck every week." Danielle said.
"That doesn't help any." Luke said.
"Yes, I did have a good reason for calling this meeting. I'm sure by now both of you have heard about the three murders within the last two nights. All three of these people were in this department
last. The police are conducting an investigation and a local TV station has taken an interest in this case. Due to the obvious negativity that a triple murder has on this college, Dean Raymond has asked us to cooperate fully with Heather Taylor on this
investigation." Danielle said.
"I've met Miss Taylor, her only interest is in a sensational story and she doesn't care who she has to step on to get it." Luke said.
"Perhaps Miss Francis should have told you that I was here." Heather Taylor said from the corner behind Luke.
Candice turned around and smiled.
"I take you two know each other?" Danielle asked.
"We went to high school together." Candice answered.
Luke stood up and turned around to face Heather.
"My opinion of you still hasn't changed, Miss Taylor. I have nothing against reporters, but I don't like your style." Luke said.
"You don't have a choice in the matter, Mister Drake. You will cooperate with her. In fact I have just decided that you will be the one who shows Miss Taylor around." Danielle said.
"I see your students call you 'The Dragon Lady' for a reason." Luke said.
"Yes, they do Mister Drake. Now get out of my office and give Miss Taylor a full tour of the Social Studies Department." Danielle said.
"Miss Francis, if you don't mind. I would rather that Candice give me the nickel and dime tour. Professor Drake and I don't exactly see eye to eye on a lot of things." Heather said.
"It looks like you got out of it this time Mister Drake." Danielle said.
Heather and Candice walked out of Danielle's office. Luke turned toward Danielle and smiled.
"Do you think they bought it?" Luke asked.
"I don't know who you are, but I know you're one of them. If I ever find out that you had anything to do with those three kids getting killed I turn you over to the police so fast it will make your head spin." Danielle said.
"If you really thought I was a threat, I wouldn't be here."
"What did happen to those kids?" Danielle asked.
"They wandered where they should not have. The others considered them a threat, and removed that threat."
"You killed them?" Danielle asked.
"Tell me, Danielle, how long do you think you would keep this position if your Dean found out that you were an accessory to murder?"
"You wouldn't dare!" Danielle said.
"Oh believe me, I would. They haven't built a jail yet that can hold me, but I don't think that you could get out that easily. Now you will just forget about those three kids. It was their own
stupidity that got them killed. I did all that I could to keep them alive, but they refuse, and Shannon was dead before I could get to her." Luke said.
"Who are you?"
"Just a friend, that's all you need to know." Luke said.
"I need to know more than that Mister Drake." Danielle said.
"I'm your only hope of staying alive when Matty and her friends decide that they want to leave. They have a bad habit of not leaving any witnesses behind." Luke said.
"And what about you?"
"I have a fatalistic belief in the human race. I don't think you would be stupid enough to risk your safety and freedom to tell something that no one will believe anyway." Luke said.
"What are you doing down in the basement anyway?" Danielle asked.
"I have no idea, I don't go down there unless I have to."
Danielle's phone rang and she pushed the intercom button.
"Professor Francis, Angela Sexton from child welfare is here." a woman's voice said.
"Child welfare?" Luke asked.
"Send her in Leigh Ann." Danielle said then pushed the intercom button on her phone again.
"Why would they be involved, if you don't mind me asking."
"Shannon Peterson had a daughter and left an abusive husband last month, Mister Drake. I'm sure the child welfare people will be looking into her death as well." Danielle said.
A young woman came into the office. Her light blonde hair was down below her shoulders. Her bright blue eyes widened when she saw Luke.
"Angela Sexton, this is my colleague Professor Lucas Drake, I'm Danielle Francis."
"We're looking into the death of Shannon Peterson, and report what we find to the police." Angela said.
"Have you found anything yet?" Luke asked.
"Just that she was found completely drained of blood, but we think that was because a major artery was cut." Angela said.
"Miss Peterson was in my last class. My secretary would have left with her, but I asked her to work late last night." Luke said.
"Could I talk to your secretary, maybe find out where Miss Peterson was going last night." Angela said.
"We will cooperate in any way possible, Miss Sexton." Danielle said.
Luke and Angela walked out of Danielle's office and down the hall toward Luke's office.
"How long have you been here?" Angela asked.
"About a week, what about you?"
"Three years." Angela answered.
"Still trying to protect those who cannot protect themselves?"
"Why else would I be working in a child welfare office?" Angela asked.
"Who else knows you're here?" Luke asked.
"Just Matty. Is it true that the Count is coming?"
"Yes, so is Van Helsing." Luke said.
Luke opened the door to his office and let Angela go in first.
"Angela, this is Charlotte Watson." Luke said.
Angela closed her eyes and smiled a little.
"What is she smiling about?" Charli asked.
"It's a private joke." Angela said looking at Luke.
"She knows about us." Luke said.
"He was the one that converted me. I can still sense his feelings when I try hard enough." Angela said.
"You can do that. You never told me about that." Charli said.
"There are a lot of things that you don't know." Angela said.
"I do have a question though. What exactly did you mean when you said that your mother had been infused with vampire blood? Is that something like a transfusion?" Charli asked.
Angela smiled.
"Believe me Miss Watson, you don't want to know what it is." Angela said.
"But I do. I don't suppose that you could show me?" Charli asked.
Luke smiled a little as he walked over to the door and shut it. Angela moved over toward Charli.
"She did ask. What do the rules say? Freely asked, freely given." Angela said.
"She didn't know what she was asking." Luke said as he rolled his sleeve up.
"You're not going to do what I think you are, are you?" Charli asked.
Angela lay her hand on the back of Charli's head and tilted it to one side.
"You haven't even taken any from her yet." Angela said.
"I don't intend to either. That's why you're going to show her yourself." Luke said.
"I'm not really that hungry." Angela said.
He held his hand out toward Angela.
"Just do it and shut up." Luke said.
Charli jerked back as Angela bit into Luke's wrist.
"Doesn't that hurt?" Charli asked.
"A little, but we don't usually feel pain like you do." Luke said.
Angela pulled back away from his wrist. Charli looked a little confused, because there was blood on her mouth, but no marks on his wrist. Luke smiled as he rolled his sleeve down and buttoned the cuff.
"You can't even tell what happened." Charli said.
Angela wiped a little blood off her lower lip as she sat down.
"We heal quickly. We have about thirty seconds before the vein closes itself." Luke said.
"Then that part is true. You can't be killed by bullets and knives." Charli said.
"Technically we can't actually be killed, except by decapitation." Luke said.
"Where did that old legend come from. A wooden stake can kill something that a bullet can't." Charli said.
"Its one of the Count's nasty old habits. That's one of the reasons they called him Vlad the Impaler." Angela said.
"You have a wonderful family, a ghoul for a sister and a psychopath for a father." Charli said.
"She's met Matty?" Angela asked.
Charli smiled a little as Luke laughed. There was a knock on the door and Charli got up.
"I'll get it." Luke said as he stepped to the door.
He opened the door and a tall slender man stood waiting the hall. He wore a light blue suit and looked like he had just come from something formal.
"Is Angela Sexton here?" he asked.
"And you are?" Luke asked.
"Greg Peterson." he answered as he stepped in.
"I told you before Greg, your daughter is in protective custody. There's nothing you can do to get her back." Angela said.
Greg tapped a folded piece of paper on Angela's chest.
"A judge didn't think so. That's court order for you to release Anna back into my custody." Greg said.
"I'll contest it." Angela said.
"Good, but until you do you have to turn her over to me." Greg said.
"I seem to have forgotten where she is." Angela said as she took the paper.
Greg grabbed her wrist and pushed her back a little.
"Where is my daughter?"
Angela grabbed him by the throat and pushed him into the wall.
"Your daughter is safe. Away from you and anyone else who would hurt her." Angela said.
"Hurt her. I would never hurt my daughter. She's all that I have left now." Greg said.
"You should have thought about that before you beat her." Angela said.
"Do I have to drag you into court to make you turn her over?" Greg asked.
"She's at my apartment. My housekeeper will let you in." Angela said looking down.
Greg smiled as Angela let him go and stepped away.
"Keep this in mind Mister Peterson. If you hurt that girl again, I'll make sure that you'll never forget it." Angela said.
"I always protect my own, girl." Greg said as he walked out the door.
Angela slumped back in a chair and lay her hands over her face.
"Why did you cave in like that?" Charli asked.
"If you were an eight hundred year old woman, would you want a court reporter or the police digging into your past?" Angela asked as she looked up.
"Maybe he won't hurt her." Charli said.
"He will. I've seen him and those like him for centuries. They never stop until they kill." Angela said.
"I will see what I can do about keeping the girl safe. Matty may be a bit ghoulish, but there are some things that even she can't stand." Luke said.
Angela smiled when Luke walked out the door.
"How do you know him anyway?" Charli asked.
"Jealous, Miss Watson?" Angela asked.
"A little."
"Like I said he was the vampire who made me a vampire. When I met him I was a lot like you. A bit naive, willing to accept just about anything. He never told me what he was until after he had converted me." Angela said.
"Do you mind if I ask who you were before?"
"Just a poor little peasant. I had been beaten as child, then as a wife. Then it wasn't illegal, in fact it was commonplace for a husband to beat his wife when she displeased him. Luke said that I would know better than anyone how to protect those who could not protect themselves. If I knew that it would turn me into what I hate the most I would have never agreed to it." Angela said.
"What do you mean?"
"I kill people. I have to, I can't help myself. Do you have any idea what it's like to always feel hunger gnawing at you. Never being able to satisfy it, except when you kill someone. Then to have this overwhelming guilt as you feel that person dying in your arms. You can tell when they die, because you can hear their heart beating." Angela said.
Charli shuddered and stepped toward the door. Angela shook her head as she stood up.
"You look like someone that's excited by the prospect." Angela said.
"It's not excitement Angela. If anything I pity you. An eternity of hating yourself must be the worst fate imaginable." Charli said.
Angela smiled a little as she opened the door.
"I don't want your pity, Miss Watson. A little peaceful sleep would be nice though." Angela said.